What is the official language of the European Union?

I am adding myself quickly to the convo. because I am a Gaelic speaker, like you, except I speak Manx Gaelic from the Isle of Man. It is facinating how much I understand of the Irish language, yet written Manx is soo different from that of Irish and Gaelic, written Manx is more like written Welsh in many respects, yet Manx (Gaelg) is a Gaelic language, not a Briteonic-Celtic language. Our language is considered extinct, yet you would be surprized to find that there is a huge movement on the Isle of Man to revive Manx. We have the "Yn Cheshaght Ghailckagh" or Manx language soicety, and in the year 2001, the first Manx medium primary school was opened, with four more following between late 2001 and 2003. We now have our own Manx Newspaper, and several immersion programmes to help revive Manx. I believe that in order to keep Gaidhlig and Gaelige living, you must do what they did for Gaelg, which is to increase the amount of media coverage in the language, because everyone follows the media. Gaelg has official status now on the Isle of Man, and we are working on the process to in corperate Manx into everyday Government.

CriostóirSaturday, July 10, 2004, 18:40 GMT

That's good news, Manx! It's true - despite the different way of spellling, Manx is Goidelic, not Brythonic. The reason it looks different is because the English developed the spelling of Manx according to how the sounds fit their idea of English orthography.
May Manx be revived and the land nourish its native tongue!

As Manx wrote:
> Our language is considered extinct, yet you would be surprized
> to find that there is a huge movement on the Isle of Man to revive
> Manx. We have the "Yn Cheshaght Ghailckagh" or Manx language
> soicety, and in the year 2001, the first Manx medium primary school
> was opened, with four more following between late 2001 and 2003.
> We now have our own Manx Newspaper, and several immersion
> programmes to help revive Manx.

Ceaser DeJuliusSunday, July 11, 2004, 15:44 GMT

I think the revival of Manx is increadible on the Isle of Man. It is now an individual country and has more power to do something about the survival of our sister tongue. In my life time, I have enountered only one Manx speaker, and surprisingly I understood some of what he said. Yet I don't understand Manx like I understand Irish, Irish is closer to what I speak.

Yet now, I am working on a Welsh project, my Grandmother was Welsh, and because she was not allowed to speak it because of School Policy in Wales, I am now taking the privilage and giving both my self and my future children something my grandmother was not able to have. I am learning and soon hope to become fluent in Welsh.

Slan

DamiamSunday, July 11, 2004, 15:59 GMT

Da iawn...pob hwyl i chwi.

DamianSunday, July 11, 2004, 18:51 GMT

That is an incredible privilege

Ceaser DeJuliusMonday, July 12, 2004, 02:22 GMT

Thank you, Tapath Leabh!

I find joy in this new project, and there are more Welsh speakers to practice with than there are Gaelic speakers. Wales revival of Welsh has been extremely promising and successful. More than half of Welsh children now attend Welsh medium schools, which has increased the amount of fluent speakers within the past few years. Only now has Gaelic medium education started in Scotland, which is good for the survival of the ancient tongue originally spoken by the Irish, and brought to Scotland by the Celts. There is no doubt that my children will be fluent Gaelic speakers, and I will keep them in Scotland to ensure that they are educated in Gaelic. It is a strong support for the survival of a language which keeps it living. It is the pride and love of the Gael culture which has kept Gaidhlig alive to this point. Yet not enough is being done, and the attidue of todays young people towards Gaelic is not very pleasent. It is different with Welsh, and that is why over 20% of the Welsh population is bi-lingual in Welsh, while less than 2% of the Scottish population speaks Gaelic.

I hope that speakers of any suriving Celtic language passes it on to their children, because if it dies, then so does the heritage and pride of the Celtic people, and our identity becomes lost.

Ceaser DeJuliusMonday, July 12, 2004, 02:40 GMT

Pass their language on to their children****

~My god, I can speak Gaelic, but not English :P

DamianMonday, July 12, 2004, 06:12 GMT

I have contact with Welsh through a close friend from university. He is 100% Welsh speaking, from the island of Anglesey, where 70% of the population of about 58,000 speak Welsh as their first language. His very first words were in Welsh.

I have never been to Wales (yet) but I have a "feel" for the country and it's struggle to keep up its culture against enormous pressures from outside.....popular culture, the media and, of course, the huge neighbour next door ...England....with all its influences. A hundred years ago many people were unable to speak English at all! Of course that is not the case now...every single person is fluent. But if you want to have a job in local Government in Wales, and in many other official organisations, you have to have a knowledge of Welsh to some degree, so he tells me.

DamianMonday, July 12, 2004, 06:17 GMT

Here in Edinburgh most people would be more familiar with Continental languages than they would with Gaidhlig! Sad but true. You are infinitely more likely to hear French or German or Dutch etc being spoken as you walk along Princes Street than the alleged "native tongue"! Will that ever be remedied?

LegioThursday, July 15, 2004, 20:42 GMT

Hi, i'm italian. I live near milan. My friends, all tests say that italians r the most europeans of the EU... yes, we trust very much in the EU... UK can be a rich country, but they've always said that EU s***s.

So, English will never be european language, and i say the truth... it's boring compared to my language or to latin ones (i respect english licterature, but reading italian poetries and english ones can be compared to listening to a band like beatles and to another band like the darkness -_-).

Spanish is very easy and beautiful, many countries of the world speak it, so it can be.

French can be the european language too, but i can say the same thing for greek, italian, german...

They r all "european" languages, but if u want a language that represents europe, there's latin... i study latin, it's more easy than english, believe me... latins are in all languages, many words r latins, like "stadium"... isn't it latin? It's the same thing for many other words.

Other languages are parts of europe, u will never find a language that's european at all... if you want one, u can just create it.

eoThursday, July 15, 2004, 22:32 GMT

latin is beautiful !!!

Dulcinea del TobosoThursday, July 15, 2004, 23:01 GMT

Well, why not Esperanto then? Esperento was invented to bring people together and the EU essentially does that by removing barriers to trade, travel, and employment throughout Europe. Personally, I think English serves the EU well and would be hard to displace, but if the Commission needed to choose a non-English "official" language, Esperanto would be a good symbolic gesture.

Anyway, the discussion of Gaelic, Welsh, and Celtic languages has been very educational and enjoyable. One thing I haven't been able to find on the web is what these languages *sound* like.